H.—4OA.

matters under its control. For these purposes and for the transaction of current business, the Board has held regular meetings in Wellington every four weeks. These meetings are additional to the sittings in various parts of the Dominion in its appellate jurisdiction, and do not include its sittings as a commission of inquiry acting under the direction of the Minister. The Board dealt with all matters brought before it by the Commissioner of Transport at its regular sittings in "Wellington. We proceed to refer to some of the more important points to which we have directed attention. 21. In order to obtain the fullest information as to commercial road transport, its operation, and the extent of its co-ordination with other forms of transport, we commenced our duties by preparing questionnaires which we issued to the following:— (1) Transport interests— New Zealand Government Railways Board. New Zealand Road Transport Alliance. White Star Organization. New Zealand Omnibus Proprietors' Association. New Zealand Master Carriers' Federation. New Zealand Shipowners' Federation. (2) Industrial and Trade Organizations— New Zealand Dairy Control Board. New Zealand Meat Producers Board. New Zealand Sawmillers' Federation. New Zealand Warehousemen's Association. New Zealand Fruitgrowers' Federation. New Zealand Manufacturers' Association. (3) Local AuthoritiesAll Harbour Boards. All County Councils. Electric Tramway Authorities. The questions addressed to these various bodies and corporations were framed so as to obtain for us the most complete information available from experienced operators in all classes of transport, in addition to the views of local authorities and organizations particularly concerned with its use. 22. The answers received show that in many cases great pains were taken to supply the information for which the Board asked. The answers have been carefully examined, and the knowledge gained from them will be of value to the Board in its future work; and the Board desires to express its appreciation of the assistance it has received in this matter from all approached by it. 23. The Board has devoted much attention to the important question of co-ordination. As the transport legislation now stands, the Board controls services by road and air, transport by rail and by sea being outside its jurisdiction. We interpret the present form of legislation as a direction to the Board to explore every possibility of promoting a spirit of co-ordination and co-operation between all forms of transport by the adoption of conciliatory methods. With this object in view the Board has-endeavoured to inaugurate the formation of district co-ordination committees presided over by the Chairman of the District Licensing Authorities. These committees were to be unofficial and would have no legal standing. The purpose in view is to bring about a spirit of co-operation and to arrive at a better understanding of the difficulties faced by various forms of transport and to improve their efficiency. All forms of transport have been invited to take part in the committees and to be represented on them. The Board believes the committees could perform very useful functions, but the success of their work must depend on the co-operation of all forms of transport, and so far this has not been attained. In fact, the response has been disappointing, and no useful result has been reached yet. The Board is unable to bring this matter to a final conclusion under the powers given it by the present legislation. 24. The term of all licenses for land-transport services—for both passenger and goods services—is one year only. The Board has given consideration to the question of increasing this term, and is of opinion that passenger-services have now reached a sufficient measure of stability to warrant an extension of the term. In the near future we believe

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